Friday, November 15, 2002

WHAT: The Technology Training Foundation of America and the California Department of Corrections will give away 1,500 refurbished computers to the Sacramento City Unified School District, the Robla School District and the Grant Joint Union High School District.

WHO: The Department of Corrections and the Technology Training Foundation of America (TTFA), a statewide non-profit organization, have partnered to bridge the digital divide by providing high-quality computers and peripherals free of charge to California public schools. The donated computers are refurbished through the Department of Corrections’ Computer Refurbishing Program, providing hands-on computer training for state prison inmates and an opportunity for them to give useful technology to public schools, saving schools and taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Nissan North America, Raley’s supermarkets, and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control donated retired computers for this project.

Representatives from TTFA, the Department of Corrections, equipment donor companies, the school districts receiving the donated computers and elected representatives will be at the presentation.

BACKGROUND

For more than three years, TTFA and the California Department of Corrections have joined in a cooperative effort to give refurbished computers to California school children. Private industries, state agencies and individual donors provide computer equipment. They are then refurbished by inmates in the Department of Corrections’ Computer Refurbishing Program. The computers that can be brought up to school district technology standards are donated free of charge to schools throughout the state. Through computer donation partnerships, the Department of Corrections has helped place more than 88,000 computers into public schools statewide since 1994 at no cost to the recipients.